Israel is pushing to kick the United Nations agency responsible for aiding Palestinian refugees out of Gaza after the group fired a dozen staffers over their alleged involvement in the Oct. 7 Hamas terror attacks, officials said.
Foreign Minister Israel Katz announced the Middle East nation was working to ensure that “UNRWA will not be a part of the day after” in the wake of the staffers’ sackings.
Katz added that his department was aiming to build support for UNRWA’s ouster with the United States, the European Union, and other nations who provide significant funding to the impoverished agency.
“We have been warning for years: UNRWA perpetuates the refugee issue, obstructs peace, and serves as a civilian arm of Hamas in Gaza,” the foreign minister said in a post on X.
UNRWA announced Friday that it had fired several staffers after Israel provided the group with intelligence alleging that its employees were involved in the heinous slaughter in southern Israel that left 1,200 dead and 250 kidnapped by Hamas.
The United States quickly announced it was cutting funding to the agency after learning that “12 UNRWA employees may have been involved” in the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorists, the State Department said. Since President Biden took office, the US has poured more than $730 million into the UN agency for refugee assistance in the West Bank and Gaza.
Other nations including Canada, Italy, Australia, the United Kingdom, and Finland have since announced they were pausing any additional aid to the agency.
“The UK is appalled by allegations that UNRWA staff were involved in the 7 October attack against Israel, a heinous act of terrorism that the UK Government has repeatedly condemned,” the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office said.
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said the 27-member bloc was looking to “assess further steps and draw lessons based on the result of the full and comprehensive investigation.”
On Saturday, Hamas lashed out against Israel’s “threats” against UNRWA and urged the international body and other countries “not cave in to the threats and blackmail.”
Philippe Lazzarini, UNRWA’s commissioner-general, said he made the decision to fire the staffers “to protect the agency’s ability to deliver humanitarian assistance” after Israeli intelligence shared
The agency head added that an investigation was underway and that any staffer found to have participated in terrorist acts “will be held accountable, including through criminal prosecution.”
In the wake of Hamas’ brutal Oct. 7 attacks, Israel has bombarded Gaza for months in an effort to wipe out the terrorist group.
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres was “horrified” by the news of the UNRWA staffers’ alleged involvement in the terror attacks, and promised that the agency would “conduct an urgent and comprehensive independent review of UNRWA,” his spokesman, Stephane Dujarric, said.
The death toll from the bloody war in Gaza has exceeded 26,000 people, according to the Hamas-run Ministry of Health, which does not differentiate between civilians and terrorists.
In other developments:
With Post wires.